Soprano Emily Magee: I faced great questions of mortality and motherhood for Die Frau ohne Schatten

‘I always had the kind of voice no one could figure out,’ says US soprano Emily Magee.

‘When I was younger, it was too loud for this, too high for that. Then Daniel Barenboim gave me a chance to sing at Bayreuth. After that, people began to think of me connected with German repertoire and it really took off.’

Since starting her professional career in Chicago in 1995, Colorado-based Magee’s ample, vibrant voice has been acclaimed at most of the world’s major opera houses. But taking on the role of the Empress in Richard Strauss’s symbolic opera, Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without A Shadow), opening tomorrow in London, has been a multilayered challenge for her.

‘There’s so much expected of her vocally,’ says Magee of a role regarded as one of Strauss’s most demanding creations, which also requires her to compete against an orchestra of 164 players. ‘It’s like a whole Ring Cycle in one evening: it takes you on a similarly huge journey but all in one night.’

It’s not just the vocal challenges that make the role so taxing. Die Frau tells the story of the half-human Empress living among mortals but who casts no shadow: in this mythical universe, it signifies she is unable to bear children. Unless she can take another woman’s shadow and become fertile, her father will force her back into his spirit realm and kill her husband.

‘You have to think about your life’s journey as a woman,’ says Magee, ‘and all the childbearing and relationship issues around that, when you prepare the role.’

Magee’s husband currently acts as her agent, or, as she puts it, her ‘diva-wrangler’. Does she have children? ‘No, but I would have liked to,’ she says, then pauses.

‘In fact, I lost a child just before I first sang this role. It was very fresh pain but facing the great questions of mortality and motherhood during rehearsals every day was a very beneficial therapy. This time, I’m dealing with the loss of my father, who died at Christmas.’

How is she coping? ‘In this production, I end up on the floor at one stage in a hysterical fit, crying at a father figure…’ she says. ‘It’s an extraordinary way to work through things. You get to spend all that energy and let it out.’

Die Frau’s libretto, by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, was criticised at its 1919 premiere for being a self-conscious and overly symbolic drama of archetypes – but Magee’s response suggests it taps into something very profound and human, perhaps the reason there have been more and more productions in recent years after a long period of neglect.

‘It’s fascinating that Strauss and Hofmannsthal chose to use a fairy-tale setting,’ says Magee. ‘It’s also part of the piece’s genius. You can do anything with it you want, from a style perspective.’

The director in this case is Claus Guth, who is loved and lambasted in about equal measure for his revisionist stagings. His productions of Don Giovanni and Figaro from Salzburg were revelatory; his Messiah from Vienna was so terrible, it was amusing. How is he approaching this La Scala co-production?

‘He sees the action stemming from the Empress’s feverish psyche,’ says Magee. ‘It’s not quite as easy as “it’s all a dream” but we see a young girl who fears becoming a woman, has issues about her father and fears having sex for the first time.’

Images from the Italian performances show a spare and cool, Freudian-era setting, including a nursery with children in sailor suits. ‘Some of it is quite minimalist but there’s a lot of fantasy too.’

‘In some ways, singing the operas of Strauss is like coming home for me,’ says Magee, who is famed for her renditions of big roles: she was a memorable Gutrune in the Royal Opera’s Ring Cycle a few years ago.

‘But it’s easy to sound pretentious when talking about singing. I like to remind myself it comes down to two pieces of gristle in your throat.’

Die Frau ohne Schatten opens tomorrow and runs in rep until Apr 2 at the Royal Opera House.